(light upbeat music) - I'm Paris Jackson in the Crosscut KCTS 9 newsroom.

A July Crosscut story sparked a flood of readers' feedback about the connection between Washington's new cap-and-trade program and high gas prices that caused pain at the pump and in the wallet.

Those opinions varied from grudging acceptance of the cap-and-trade plan's associated cost to skepticism of the state's new carbon offset program.

Some readers were even distrustful about how the state would spend hundreds of millions of dollars expected to be raised by the program.

Prior to the state's third carbon auction at the end of August, Washington had already sold 800 million in offsets through the cap-and-trade program.

While there were critics, Crosscut readers also supported the state's efforts to decrease carbon emissions.

One Seattleite said, "What choice is there?"

A Vancouver man in his survey response said he would consider getting a plugin hybrid if prices came down.

In July, Washington gas prices were the highest in the nation with the average of $4.95 cents a gallon for regular according to AAA.

I'm Paris Jackson.

Find non-profit Northwest news every day on crosscut.com.

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